Cracked Shells
by RAINRAIN9
Summary: A year before the first Kingdom Hearts installment, darkness is growing amongst the worlds. While some worlds have yet to be touched, others have had the Darkness growing for years. Some inhabitants simply don't know it. While others take advantage of its power to increase their own.
1. Chapter 1

The stage was bustling with sea life as it always did, though no audience was there to view their performance. Despite this they played on, each focusing on their individual piece; adding to the theatre's lively atmosphere. Various merfolk, octopi, turtles, and fish moved about as they cleaned and practiced for their upcoming concert. One of these merfolk, was a young merman freshly seventeen. His dark blue hair pulled back into a bun as he scrubbed one of the large clams in the center of the stage.

"In the mysterious fathoms below," He sang happily, cleaning some muck off. His name was Skye, and like his kingdom, he enjoyed music— especially singing. In a kingdom where everyone enjoyed and partook in music, only the most gifted were the ones chosen to perform for the palace. With so many competing for something that they all enjoyed, either way, Skye never bothered to audition for such things. He was content to work the stage to prepare for the performances. Sometimes he performed with, or for, his coworkers. The princesses enjoyed his flute when they were stressed during rehearsals on occasion.

"Hey, isn't that a song from the humans?" His neighbor asked, the mermaid only just beginning to polish her clam.

Skye grinned and nodded to her. Though it was frowned by many to interact with the human world, especially since it could land you into hot water with the king, he didn't mind talking to her about it. Yin had been kind to him since they were guppies and was one of his preferred coworkers.

"You're correct! I heard it from a passing ship the other night and it's been stuck in my head since," he shared happily. He handed his dirty rag to a nearby octopus and thanked him for the polish he was given in exchange. Beginning to polish the clam, he continued, "I don't where they originate from, but they sang of King Triton with high regard!"

"They must be from the kingdom near ours, they're the only ones I heard call our king by his name. The visitors still think that his father is in charge," She added in. She paused her work so that she could tie her blonde hair back into a high ponytail.

"They shouldn't be speaking of our people, let alone our king, at all," A voice snapped.

Skye and Yin turned their heads towards the intruder of their conversation. While everyone was entitled to their personal views and was normally more than welcome to join their many conversations, this mermaid… wasn't, as nicely as they could say, the kindest. He'd like to think it was only because of the pressure she placed on herself, but she acted this way since they were younger before she was even chosen.

"They weren't speaking ill of us at all, Sirena," Skye responded, "It was praises of his wisdom and might."

"You're a disgrace, truly," She sighed, seeming bored of the confrontation she created. "It's understandable I suppose. Your lack of tune would be admired by them as a wondrous artist. You can sing their song fantastically, but ours is simply too much for you, hmm?" Her ice-blue eyes cutting into him.

Giggles followed as Nixie, Sirena's friend he presumed from how often they were together, listened in. Skye felt his face becoming as red as the clam he polished, refusing to look up at her. If Hades appeared before him to offer a deal for his soul, he'd offer it to him for free- he'd probably thank him honestly.

"It's good that someone loyal, like me, is singing the solo for tonight's performance rather than some mediocre like you," Sirena continued.

Skye bit back bitterly, "If we're lucky, you'll sing so low that we won't have to hear you," as he scrubbed harder than necessary.

He paused at the sudden quiet in the room. Skye looked up from his work to see everyone else silent, most looking over while some stared at the work frozen, but all listening. Sirena's shocked expression soon morphed into a harsh glare,

" _What_ was that, bottom feeder?"

Skye shrunk under everyone's gaze, his bravery dwindling each second.

"Uh-"

"Is there a problem here?" A deep voice asked, their eyes swinging to the older merman approaching them. "Because I don't see anyone doing their prep work, do you want Sebastian to explode?" He inquired, stopping by the pair. "That crab won't settle for anything less than perfection and neither should any of you, got it guppies?"

A chorus of responded as the majority went back to their work and practices. Skye, Sirena and their supervisor, Dominic stayed in place. Yin had returned to polishing but her green eyes kept glancing at the trio every so often.

"Are you taking up cleaning, Sirena? Or are you going back to practice?" Dominic asked, causing the mermaid to huff and swim back to her singing partners. The merman sighed before looking back at Skye. Skye's throat tightened at the attention and fumbled for his polish so that he could get back to work.

"Be careful, Skye. She's not one to let go of grudges," His boss continued before swimming off to check the others' work.

Skye settled for humming as he went back to polishing his clam until it shined brighter than his orange tail. Reaching down he scooped up a bucket and scrubber and waved goodbye to Yin as he swam outside. All he had to do was scrape his share of the barnacles off the rocks near the entrance and he'd be good for the day. He went about his work calmly, easily scraping the barnacles down into his bucket. Maybe he'd do some extra since he didn't have any other plans for the day. Skye began to swim towards the garden before tensing at the giggles that surrounded him. Nixie and Sirena coming into view, thankfully Sirena's brother wasn't with them. Skye relaxed somewhat that the bigger merman wasn't there, but he couldn't let his guard down with Sirena.

"We're going to talk," Sirena commanded swimming up to him.

If anyone asked, Skye's going to say his body had a nervous twitch. But before Sirena could say anymore, Skye threw his arms out- tossing all the barnacles and their gunk over the duo.

Dropping the bucket, he flew forward, laughing loudly at his action and fear of its consequence. A shriek came from behind, and he continued towards the Undersea Valley. He made a few sharp turns before dropping into a geyser that skyrocketed him towards the edge of the valley. Without a beat, Skye dropped himself directly under the cave opening where the geyser shot him through into a patch of seaweed. Sinking as far into the sand as he could, he quickly pulled some of the dead seaweed over his tail to hide its vibrancy. Despite as much as he'd like to watch the opening for his pursuers, Skye bowed his head so that he could blend better with the seaweed. Yelling was heard from above for a moment before silence. Skye sat, silently terrified that he'd look up and see Sirena's grin above him. Eventually, he looked up and sighed in relief to see no merfolk above him.

"Are you playing hide and seek or something?" A voice asked lowly.

Skye felt himself die a little before turning his head. His eyes grew as he took in the leathery face with one white and one yellow eye.

 _An eel_ Skye felt himself rise and move forward

 _There's an eel_ His eyes never left the creature beside him

 _An e-_ His thoughts were cut off as he ran straight into a rock wall. The last thing he saw was a pair of heterochromia eyes looking down at him.


	2. Chapter 2

The world was much quieter than it usually was within the servant quarters. No chattering merfolk, no instruments being played, no singing, just silence. It would have been peaceful if it weren't so foreign. Skye's brow furrowed before teal eyes began to crack open, further confused by the darkened sea. He squinted at the rocky terrain above him, vaguely remembering he was meant to be scrapping up barnacles.

Skye jolted upwards, his escape from Sirena and the eel flashing in his mind. Only to wince as the action set off a pounding sensation in his head.

"Careful!" A voice hissed, "Don't hurt yourself again!" It insisted.

Skye froze, slowly looking towards the moving shadows and four eyes. He rubbed at his eyes before squinting at the duo pair of eyes still peering back at him. He lurched backward, grasping at the wall, "Don't eat me!"

"Hey!" A second voice barked, "Be careful!"

One of the two shadows swam forward, revealing a blue-grey eel that lowered itself to be eye level with Skye, "You knocked yourself out earlier when you saw me," He explained, "I asked my brother to help move you since it was getting dark,"

Skye blinked back at the eel, "Why?"

"Uh, cause you were running from something?" The louder voice broke in as he swam forward, this eel noticeably larger than the other, "And Jetsam didn't want to leave you for the sharks,"

Skye nodded slowly as he stared back at the nearly identical pair, their eyes seemingly glowing within the cave. Other than their size difference, their eyes intrigued him. Jetsam's left eye was a murky yellow and his right eye was a healthier white, his companion's eyes were the same just reversed. "But you're… eels," He managed out, leaning forward as he eyed them, he could've sworn that their white eyes had some kind of glow to them.

"So?"

"You guys are dangerous…" Skye shakily added.

"We aren't dangerous," The bigger eel hissed, curling his body around Skye as he swam around him momentarily, "But other things out here are. The sharks, the barracudas, the octopi,"

Skye's hands curled up to his chest as he listened, every warning he's heard about the Open Sea reawakening to embrace him. He glanced towards the back of the cave and back to its opening, his tail fin twitched nervously at all that could be in the dark.

"Flotsam!" Jetsam scolded,

"We don't wanna eat you though," Flotsam continued, swimming towards the cave's entrance "Now that you're awake, we can go home,"

"Home?" Skye echoed, before shooting upright at the realization that they were leaving, "Wait!" He yelped, "I," His face flushed in embarrassment, "I don't know where I am," He admitted.

Flotsam sighed, "The Open Sea, so you got a bit to swim to make it back to Atlantica,"

"You could come with us," Jetsam suggested with a grin. Skye shuddered at the sight, if not for the eel's pleasant tone, he would've thought it was a tad malicious. Despite being lucky that these eels didn't seem interested in eating him his stomach curled at the sight.

"We're dangerous though," Flotsam drawled.

The heat in Skye's face spread outwards to cover his neck and ears, "I'm sorry," He wilted, lowering his head, "That was rude of me to say,"

"Yeah, it was," Flotsam snapped back, as Skye's shoulders drooped further, "But I guess you can come with us to Ursula,"

"The Sea Witch?" Skye yelped, night tales and warnings flaring to life inside of him once more.

"If that's what you guys call her," Flotsam huffed, swimming out into the dark sea with Jetsam.

Skye's tail swished in thought as he watched the pair exiting. He could stay in the cave and wait for daylight, assuming that nothing came home to it and found Skye there. Or he could go with them and meet the legendary Sea Witch Ursula. Technically he could try to swim back to Atlantica on his own right now…

He glanced at his tail, the orange scales shimmering despite the dark of night. He shuddered to imagine what could see him during that swim.

"Wait," He stammered, floating forward somewhat as he began to lose sight of the eel duo. "Wait for me!" He panicked, propelling himself forward to catch up. His tail would be as bright as the sunlight in the Open Sea, but at least he wasn't alone.

Skye followed the eels closely, keeping his gaze stubbornly forward. If a shark was going to snatch him from below, he'd rather not see the rows of teeth coming for him. He stayed this way until the water began to grow warmer from the brightly cracked seabed, then he couldn't help but start observing the passing scenery. Skye had dared before to sneak to the surface with Yin, but he had never gone far into the Open Sea itself. The warmth radiating off the large red hissing geysers felt as if he were laying in the sun's light up above. Did he cross the Open Sea completely?

"I'm Jetsam," The smaller eel spoke up, "Flotsam's my brother. We think he's older cause he's bigger," He added helpfully,

"I'm Skye," He greeted. He felt a smile tug at his lips as he listened to Jetsam explain how the brothers had gotten lost near Atlantica. Ironically, they knew which way not to go because they witnessed Skye fleeing into the kelp to hide. He thanked them again for not abandoning him, he wouldn't have wanted Sirena to find him unconscious. Or a shark for that matter, but both were equally dangerous.

"We're here!" Jetsam interrupted, slicing forward towards a large skeletal monster.

Skye's tail began to falter, the geysers had become plentiful and deeper purplish hues the closer he got to the large monster's remains. Skye gulped at the sight as Flotsam and Jetsam flew right through the monster's open maw with no hesitation. He had been worried all night that he was going to end up in the belly of something else.

"C'mon!" Jetsam called back to him, the smaller eel waiting just beyond the sharp teeth as his brother swam deeper into the dark.

"Sorry!" Skye grinned uneasily, steeling himself as he followed after them. He paused once beside Jetsam, pulling his hair out of the messy half-bun it had become. Pale fingers ran through dark blue locks before shakily tying it back into a low side ponytail. He took a deep breath and nodded to Jetsam, "Ready,"

Skye swam forwards with Jetsam down the corridor, trying to keep his eyes off the obvious bones along the throat's walls. The little control he regained earlier withered away when he felt something caress his tail fin. Skye spun upwards with a strangled yelp, his eyes widening as he scanned beneath him.

Several sickly green-grey creatures twisted and groaned below. Their large sunken-in yellow eyes gazed sorrowfully up at him.

"What in Poseidon?"

"Don't worry about those," Flotsam interjected, curling around Skye's torso to turn him back towards the end of the corridor. "They're like barnacles," He sniffed,

"But I've never seen—"

"Ursula, we're back!" Jetsam called cheerily, swimming past Flotsam and Skye into the room.

"Come in! Come in!" A woman's voice greeted,

Skye tensed, floating forward with Flotsam out of the corridor completely. Teal eyes automatically locked onto the large deep purple shell straight ahead. He tensed further seeing several dark tendrils crawl out of the darkness in the center of the shell.

"Don't stay there gawking in the shadows, child!" The voice continued, "It's rude,"

Skye jolted forward, folding his upper half downwards into a crisp bow. "My apologies ma'am!"

"Oooh, look at you!" She cooed, her voice louder as she dropped out of the shell completely, "Merfolk are so finicky with their manners, but at least you show you have some,"

Skye gulped, glimpsing one of the woman's tentacles curling forward into his vision. The merman stilled as the tentacle turned over, revealing violet suckers that lifted upwards to cup his chin. He obediently raised his body upwards with its guidance, his teal eyes locking onto the plump lavender woman before him.

"Ursula, this is Skye!" Jetsam introduced, floating upwards so that he was level with Skye.

"Hello Skye," She snickered, her large grin outlined in red. Her tentacle released him as she floated away to sit at a nearby vanity while Jetsam launched into how they met up to their current arrival.

Skye shivered, clasping his hands tightly behind himself as he scanned the room. Ursula sat to the right of the dark shell she emerged from, tending to herself in the mirror as Jetsam spoke. Directly in front of him and rising from a pit was a large stone cauldron. Though he was too far from it to make out the direct details of the stone, the edges of its opening reminded him keenly of teeth. To the left and above the cauldron rested a sealed cabinet.

"Curious little starfish aren't you?" Ursula spoke, spinning around the top of her cushion to smirk at him.

"I meant no disrespect," Skye blurted, tightening his hold onto his wrists to prevent himself from flinching.

"Relax child! Many have come to see me since my banishment, you're not the first and certainly won't be the last to seek my help,"

"Your… help?"

"My magic has helped many like yourself. Don't they tell stories of my power?"

"Not exactly ma'am," He gulped, "It's… it's frowned upon to speak your name. The stories about you make others uneasy and I'm sure the king would be furious to hear any,"

Skye jolted upwards as a guttural laugh erupted from Ursula.

"I'm not surprised he has banned all mention of me! _King_ Triton's magic doesn't compare to mine," Ursula grinned, "After all, he saw how adored I was and felt threatened. Why else would he cover my existence after my banishment?"

Skye pursed his lips together at her words. Every night tale and warning of the legendary Sea Witch told a much different story. Stories where if she caught you and didn't need you for a spell or her own meal, she'd feed you to her pet sharks. He side-eyed the silent eels, at least the sharks part of the stories were proven untrue thus far.

"King Triton would never allow for competition to exist for the throne," Ursula continued, swimming across the room to open her cabinet.

Skye blinked at the sight of Ursula tossing numerous vials and bottles over her shoulder and into the cauldron's mouth.

Pink smoke began to rise and pour out of the cauldron, slow but persistent across the rock bed.

"Back when I lived in the palace, I served as the king's fortuneteller," Ursula began, as the smoke wafted upwards and into a projection of the palace. "Only to be banished for helping the merfolk more than the king cared for," The smoke changed to show Ursula shaking hands with a merman to royal guards pointing spears at her.

Skye's grip on his wrists loosened as he slowly swam forward. He reached up to brush some of his bangs back behind his ear as he leaned down to peer into the cauldron.

"Poor unfortunate merfolk still cried out for my help, and I just couldn't turn them away," The previous figures curled and formed into various merfolk forms swimming towards the large skeleton and up to the same cauldron that Skye stood by. "Musically challenged, their faces, their bodies, their coloring, their hopes and dreams, all not enough or not right for Atlantica. Oh how desperately they wanted to fit in," Ursula sighed, the smoke churning to reveal numerous mermaids and mermen with clasped hands to their chests. Despite the varying details among them, none were recognizable to Skye. "I was their answer and I helped each and every one of them,"

"You could do that?"

"That's what I live for, starfish," Ursula emphasized, "Yet magic isn't free and there is the subject of payment so that I can continue doing what I do. Simple errands or tasks, and they got their wish," The cauldron's smoke thickened, revealing the same merfolk to be carrying back different shells, fish or flowers to Ursula. Whenever one of the figures would reach her, they flashed and swam away with altered appearances or new forms.

"That's amazing," Skye whispered, seeing one of the merman leave Ursula's cauldron with a dorsal fin.

"It is, innit?" One of her hands waved the smoke away from her, "Yet no one comes anymore," she sighed wistfully, "What's your wish, Skye?"

"Wish?" Skye mumbled, still watching the cauldron's images. "Oh!" He snapped upwards, looking up at the sea witch's grey eyes. "Um… I'm sure I have some. But I wasn't ready to be asked about them and now I can't think of any… Not any real important ones at least," Skye rambled, "I'm sorry ma'am."

"Oh hush starfish, you act as if I'm going to eat you," Ursula grinned, one of her tentacles harshly slapping against Skye's shoulder as she laughed. "Call me Ursula! Now once you figure which you care about the most, you tell me and I can brew a potion for you,"

Skye winced at the contact before the meaning of her words sunk into him. "Tell you? You mean I can come back?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to, starfish. But I don't see why not. After all, Jetsam seems to have taken a liking to you. If you can brave yourself to cross the Open Sea, my home is open to host you… and any friends you'd wish to bring,"

"Really?" Skye brightened up, "That's so generous of you!" He couldn't wait to tell Yin about his encounter with the Legendary Sea Witch- with Ursula. He's sure that he'd have to bring her back with him to prove that he wasn't lying about the whole thing.

"Now, you must be tired from all your excitement today," Ursula continued, floating back up to her cabinet to toss a red bottle towards Skye. "Drink this so that you can rest,"

"Oh!" Skye fumbled forward, awkwardly catching the bottle so that it didn't drop into the dissipating smoke within her cauldron. "Um, what is it?"

"A sleeping potion. To ensure you sleep well before the sun rises," Ursula huffed.

"Oh! Of course, my apologies Ursula," He fumbled out, his face warming for his silly question. He quickly opened the bottle and began draining the contents of it, wincing at the bitter taste it left inside his mouth. He nodded back to Ursula and held out the empty bottle. His brow furrowed as the lair began to spin and he vaguely felt the eels guiding him forward. He blinked at the blurry cushions before him and lowered himself to sprawl out over them, "Thank you again, Ursula," He yawned, soon closing his eyes.

"Sleep well little starfish,"


End file.
